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Want to learn more about our academic degree programs? Take a look at our Master of Divinity, Master of Arts, and Doctor of Ministry programs. Plus, learn about our unique Training & Mentoring program.

This Student Life section is the one-stop shop for students to get connected to activities that will feed your spiritual and social life as well as equip you with resources to jump-start your academic career.

Being a part of our Denver Seminary community is about connection. Whether you are an alumni, donor, or friend of the Seminary, we want to stay in touch and hope you'll take part in our programs and events.

Denver Seminary has a wealth of resources that are available to current students, alumni, and the local community. Here you will find access to the Denver Journal, Engage Magazine, and the various initiatives organized by the Seminary.

In
1989 the editor of the popular Biblical Archaeology Review published
the first edition of this readable history of ancient Israel. At that
time he enlisted numerous scholars who were experts in their respective
periods to write chapters that would provide a sequential retelling of
the account of Israel's history. The volume was a success because it
filled a gap of available critical histories that were balanced and
readable. Given the large volume of publications, disputes and
discoveries that have appeared in the decade following Shanks' initial
publication, it was appropriate that he update the original with
further studies and writings. Either the original contributors were
afforded the opportunity to revise their chapters or other scholars
were chosen to update them. The result is the best and most recent
history of ancient Israel available.

This praise does not
mean complete agreement with everything that appears in the pages of
this volume. In fact, in many cases earlier criticisms of the first
edition were ignored and further problemmatic insertions were made.
This may serve to provide access to a wider variety of readers but it
also raises questions about the representative nature of the historical
observations and conclusions that are presented. In particular, the
first chapter, which deals with the period of the patriarchs, continues
in a tradition that flatly rejects the historical reconstructions of
Albright and others, and maintains instead a dominant etiological
flavor for the narratives as first proposed by Alt and more recently
developed by Cross and his students, McCarter and Hendel, who wrote and
revised the chapter. It is not necessary to rehearse the questions and
problems that were posed by Kenneth Kitchen and this reviewer in an
earlier review of the first edition (Themelios 15 (October 1989) 24-29)
other than to observe that they have not been answered. Nor is one
impressed by rejections of personal name analyses whose results point
in an opposite direction from the later dates that the authors wish to
assign to the Genesis texts (p. 300 n. 23) when the same methodology is
used for arguing a contrary case with a smaller statistical sample (pp.
19ff.)!

The remaining chapters were better in the original
edition and retain their value in the new one. Indeed, they are
enhanced by the incorporation of more recent archaeological analysis
and by the indentification of some of the key points of debate in the
contemporary scholarly discussion. What also appears more prominently
is the caution with which many of these scholars write and an awareness
of a far greater variety of views as well as less clarity in what can
and cannot be said with certainty. Perhaps this is clearest in the
chapters on the exodus and on the monarchy. In both cases there is a
greater appeal to theological and other editorial interests by later
writers who may have influenced the biblical accounts. While the effect
of these comments is to compromise the presumed reliability of the
biblical accounts, a positive appreciation of these observations can be
gained when it is recognized that the Old Testament is a theological
work and that the import of theological assumptions in the historical
accounts, as well as other types of literature, is to be expected.
Further, the presence of such theological or ideological tendencies
should not automatically be assigned to later editors. There is too
little of an awareness of contemporary ancient Near Eastern annalistic
witings in this book. More incorporation of such comparative materials
would help to demonstrate the theological/ideological nature of all
such writing, including and especially accounts written by authors
contemporary with the events that they purport to describe.

Such
observations do not detract from the great service that Shanks and the
contributors have performed. It is hoped that this volume will find
wide use among many who seek a balanced and informed discussion of the
history of ancient Israel.